The eighth and final season of Game Of Thrones will feature the biggest pop star on the charts these days in the form of Ed Sheeran. The final season of the hit HBO show will only contain six episodes, however.
Game Of Thrones News Heats Up
The news is coming fast and furious for fans of the hit HBO series Game Of Thrones. Last week, HBO debuted a teaser poster for the upcoming season 7 at the South By South West event. That was followed by a Facebook Live event during which the premiere date was eventually revealed beneath a block of melting ice. The season 7 premiere is set for July 16.
The summer premiere was pushed back from the usual spring release due to production constraints, which required that the series be filmed in colder weather, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had previously explained. The season will now consist of just seven episodes.
Ed Sheeran For Game Of Thrones Season 8
Even though season 7 is months away, that hasn't stopped details about season 8 from emerging. Speaking at SXSW, the producers revealed that superstar singer Ed Sheeran would be appearing on that season, largely as a gift to star Maisie Williams, who is a huge fan of the popular singer songwriter.
"We knew that Maisie was a big fan of Ed Sheeran and for years we've been trying to get him on the show so we can surprise Maisie," Benioff explained. "This year we finally did it."
Sheeran's music is currently exploding on the charts, with his recently released album Divide breaking records, along with his hit songs "Shape Of You" and "Castle On The Hill," both from the collection, which recently broke the record for most streams on Spotify in a single day.
While Sheeran's presence is good news for fans, avid viewers of the program won't be happy with the season 8 episode count, which will feature only six showings, one less than the upcoming truncated season 7. There's hope, however, for the Game Of Thrones characters that survive to the end, as the producers have given HBO their blessing to produce a spinoff, although Benioff and Weiss prefer not to be involved, citing a need for "new blood." With the show's massive ratings and following, however, it appears more than likely that Game Of Thrones will in fact continue in some form on the network after season 8 concludes.
